Osteoporosis is characterized by low bone mass, microarchitectural deterioration of bone tissue leading to increased bone fragility, and a resulting susceptibility to fractures. Distinctive environmental bone marrow conditions appear to support the development and maintenance of the unbalance between bone resorption and bone formation; these complex bone marrow circumstances would be reflected in the fluid surrounding bone marrow cells. The content of regulatory molecules in the extracellular fluid from the human bone marrow is practically unknown. Since the content of cytokines such as adiponectin, leptin, osteoprogeterin (OPG), soluble receptor activator of nuclear factor kappaB ligand (s-RANKL), tumor necrosis factor alpha, and interleukin 6 (IL-6) may elicit conditions promoting or sustaining osteoporosis, in this work we compared the concentrations of the above-mentioned cytokines and also the level of the soluble receptors for both IL-6 and leptin in the extracellular fluid from the bone marrow of nonosteoporotic and osteoporotic human donors. A supernatant fluid (bone marrow supernatant fluid [BMSF]) was obtained after spinning the aspirated bone marrow samples; donors were classified as nonosteoporotic or osteoporotic after dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) measuring. Specific commercially available kits were used for all measurements. The cytokines' concentration in BMSF showed differently among nonosteoporotic and osteoporotic women; this last group was characterized by higher content of proinflammatory and adipogenic cytokines. Also, osteoporotic BMSF differentiated by decreased leptin bioavailability, suggesting that insufficient leptin action may distinguish the osteoporotic bone marrow.
Copyright 2010 American Society for Bone and Mineral Research.